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David Barnes founded Loveland

By Kenneth Jessen

Posted:
01/06/2018 10:40:07 AM MST

In 1882, a view of Loveland looking west shows the south side of Fourth Street east of Railroad Avenue. Few if any of these structures survive today. (Colorado Historical Society / Special to the Reporter-Herald)

David Barnes founded the town of Loveland in October 1877 and donated land to the Colorado Central Railroad to ensure it would pass through his land. (Loveland Museum/Gallery / Special to the Reporter-Herald)

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David Barnes is buried in Loveland's Lakeside Cemetery. The coordinates for the cemetery are 40 degrees 24.669 minutes north and 105 degrees 4.381 minutes west.

In the early 1870s, the only towns of any size in north-central Colorado were LaPorte and the former military camp of Fort Collins.

To the west of the present-day town of Loveland was a community started in 1858 by Spanish-speaking Mariano Medina later named Namaqua. Most of the population was scattered on small farms.

Another small settlement was located about a mile to the southeast of present-day Loveland. It took the brand name of the flour produced by a mill constructed in 1867 by Andrew Douty and was called St. Louis.

When David Barnes and his wife, Sarah, lived in Golden, they became friends with the incomparable William Austin Hamilton Loveland. Loveland was a merchant, one of Golden's founders, a member of the Territorial Legislature and President of the Colorado Central Railroad. So close were the ties with Loveland that David and Sarah Barnes were invited for the first trip over the Colorado Central between Golden and Denver in 1870.

In 1873, Barnes and his family moved to a 320-acre farm immediately north of the Big Thompson River and began raising wheat.

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In 1877, Barnes was delighted to hear that Loveland had secured the money to extend the Colorado Central from its terminus in Longmont through Larimer County to Cheyenne. Barnes offered land to the railroad through his wheat field, and thus the survey bypassed St. Louis and Namaqua. Barnes transitioned from farmer to developer and platted the new town of Loveland on an 80-acre site. Barnes also donated land for the railroad's depot.

David Barnes died in 1886, but lived to see his town become a success. He is buried in the Lakeside Cemetery. (Kenneth Jessen / For the Reporter-Herald)

Although speculative, Barnes may have known in advance the railroad's intended route. Between Longmont and the Wyoming line, the land is relatively flat and practically any location would have been suitable for a railroad in fact a route along the Overland Trail to the west would have been logical. Colorado history is filled with cases where selected investors react in advance of the coming of a railroad through the purchase of key property.

In October, a couple of Colorado's pioneer merchants, Lewis Hertizinger and S.B. Harter, took a gamble on the new town and purchased lots 22, 23 and 24 in Block 14 from David Barnes for $350. Hertizinger and Harter immediately began work on a substantial two-story brick building, the first such structure in Loveland and one that remains standing today.

When Loveland was founded, residents nearby of St. Louis realized that their town would not survive without rail service. Some merchants in St. Louis moved their businesses to Loveland. The Douty Mill, however, continued operating at least until 1886.

The Colorado Central erected an 80-foot by 30-foot brick depot, completed in December of 1877. It was located on the west side of the tracks close to Fourth Street. This structure was replaced in 1902 by the present-day depot, and the bricks from the old depot were used for a sidewalk.

As proven by David Barnes and other area farmers, the land was ideal for wheat. Barnes dug an irrigation ditch to further increase the area's agricultural potential.

Loveland owes much of its success to David Barnes and to the merchants who risked their businesses on the new town.

Kenneth Jessen has lived in Loveland since 1965 and has contributed to area newspapers for more than four decades. He has written more than 2,000 illustrated articles published along with 20 books. Jessen is in his third year teaching adult education at Colorado State University (OSHER program) and has lectured in Northern Colorado.

This is the initial plat of the town of Loveland from October 1877. The town was the brainchild of its founder David Barnes. Cleveland Avenue was simply called "B Street" and Railroad Avenue "C Street." Lincoln Avenue is not on this plat. (Colorado Railroad Museum / Special to the Reporter-Herald)